The diagnostic tool and implementation guide, jointly produced by AIMA and PwC, the professional services firm, will assist AIMA member firms in preparing for and tracking their compliance readiness.

The guide sketches out the various strategic and business options both EU and non-EU managers should consider when planning for compliance with the Directive. It is supplemented by an online self-diagnostic tool that will assist managers as they approach the relevant implementation deadline.

Andrew Baker, AIMA’s CEO, said: “We hope that these tools will enable hedge fund firms to get a better sense of the steps that they will need to take in order to respond to and comply with the provisions of the AIFMD.

“The AIFMD is a complicated piece of legislation. It is being implemented in EU Member States in a variety of different ways, while non-EU or ‘third country’ jurisdictions are also taking differing approaches to it. This leaves hedge fund firms across the world facing a lot of complex choices.

“Even now, the full legal and regulatory framework for the AIFMD has not been fully finalized. But the industry needs to start its implementation efforts now - since the sooner one starts, the less costly it will be in the end.”

Andrew Baker added: “The diagnostic tool and implementation guide are not intended to be a substitute for legal advice but rather, a means for individual firms to easily identify the areas of the Directive that are most relevant to them and indicate some of the strategic and operational choices they now face.”

The diagnostic tool and implementation guide form part of AIMA’s AIFMD Implementation Project, which seeks to provide guidance to the industry on complying with the Directive, create a forum for discussion within the industry on the practicability of the new requirements, and generate feedback on practical implementation issues that will be passed to policymakers.

As part of the project, AIMA will also publish a handbook that will aim to provide guidance regarding the AIFMD’s requirements in areas of legal uncertainty. This will appear once the national legal frameworks across the EU become clearer.

• The online diagnostic tool and implementation guide are not designed to give specific legal or commercial advice to managers on the strategic directions in which they should take their businesses as a consequence of the AIFMD. Similarly, it is not their purpose or function to provide guidance to AIMA members on what choices they should make in responding to the various strategic issues to which the AIFMD may give rise.

As the global hedge fund association, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has over 1,300 corporate members (with over 6,000 individual contacts) worldwide, based in over 50 countries.

Members include hedge fund managers, fund of hedge funds managers, prime brokers, legal and accounting firms, investors, fund administrators and independent fund directors. They all benefit from AIMA’s active influence in policy development, its leadership in industry initiatives, including education and sound practice manuals and its excellent reputation with regulators worldwide.

AIMA is a dynamic organisation that reflects its members’ interests and provides them with a vibrant global network. AIMA is committed to developing industry skills and education standards and is a co-founder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation (CAIA) – the industry’s first and only specialised educational standard for alternative investment specialists. For further information, please visit AIMA’s website, www.aima.org.